


Fiendfyre

by sujing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avada Kedavra, Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Dark, F/F, Murder, POV Hermione Granger, Rejection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 08:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18442859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sujing/pseuds/sujing
Summary: Sometimes, soulmates just aren't meant to be.Sometimes, soulmates end in murder.





	Fiendfyre

**Author's Note:**

> Very happily and shamelessly ignores the fact that Hermione was knocked out prior to this scene in OotP. Maybe something about Bellatrix’s presence spurred her onward such that Dolohov’s curse simply never hit? (There’s also an assumption here that neither of them really _looked_ at each other prior, even if they were in each other’s presence. Bellatrix was probably too focused on Harry.)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! I couldn’t resist writing a short take on soulmates. 
> 
> — sujing
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction that uses characters from and the world of Harry Potter, owned by J.K. Rowling.

It’s said that when you see your soulmate face-to-face for the first time, when your gazes meet and your eyes lock…you feel a rush of intense warmth like nothing before.

Hermione knows this with a burning certainty as she catches the eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange deep in the Department of Mysteries, Sirius suspended in the air before her as he falls through the Veil.

It rises within her like raging Fiendfyre. Bubbling, boiling hatred. For a moment, Hermione wonders if _this_ is love that she is feeling, rather than weak butterfly flutters, and whether hatred on this level is synonymous with love.

Of course it isn’t. But is love not often described as being destructive in its intensity?

And Hermione could _destroy._ Her emotions as her fuel, she could _kill_ , carelessly, like Bellatrix did only moments ago—though it feels like ages now.

Soulmates…what’s in a soulmate?

By now, Hermione knows better than to believe in soulmates. Sure, maybe a match indicates some sort of higher compatibility, whatever that means, but it’s hardly true that you can only ever love that one person in your lifetime. That’s just absurd and fatalistic, and there are countless counterexamples to that particular claim. Hermione would know. She can rattle off at least a dozen from memory.

Not to mention some of the more extreme tragedies of those who waited forever, never to meet their promised ones, or those who lost their partners early and mourned them for the rest of their lives.

The Hermione that fancied Lockhart three years ago might have believed, but this Hermione is not so naïve. Bellatrix Lestrange? Yeah, she can go _burn in hell._ Who says you even need romantic fulfilment in your life?

Without a doubt, Hermione’s friends are of higher priority. They’ve stuck by her for years, and while they’ve had their ups and downs, they’ve ultimately remained loyal. Naturally, she intends to reciprocate. She loves them like nothing else, save for her parents.

She’ll defend them, and she’ll use this newfound strength to do it, too.

She aims her wand down across the steps, towards where Bellatrix is still standing at the archway, mid-triumphant scream, a blazing inferno in her eyes—she must have felt it too, Hermione thinks, rushing through her veins—striking an imposing figure with her wild black curls, and unquestionably insane.

Harry lets out an anguished howl.

Hermione closes her eyes and tunes all sound out. As much as she despises Bellatrix, she doesn’t want to see this.

“ _Avada Kedavra!_ ”

Some childish part of her might still hold the stories dear.

**Author's Note:**

> Bellatrix is so high on the triumph of killing her cousin that she doesn’t even notice Hermione. If she did, she might scream in equal hatred instead. If she did, she might react in time to kill Hermione back.
> 
> A Mudblood for a soulmate? Never. 
> 
> At least the rejection is mutual.


End file.
